Rosneft to Spend $15 Bln per Year to Support Output

Russia's Rosneft, the world's top listed oil company by output, plans to invest around 1 trillion roubles ($15 billion) annually until 2018 with much of it aimed at maintaining production at its mature fields.

 

Chief Executive Igor Sechin told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday that implementation of the investment programme would allow the company to honour its obligations under long-term oil supply deals, Rosneft said in a statement.

 

Sechin added that Rosneft operating costs were at 156-166 roubles per barrel of oil equivalent last year, or $2.50-$3.00 per barrel.

 

Some analysts see risks of a decline in Russian oil output due to maturing fields in western Siberia, home to more than half of Russia's oil production.

 

Rosneft plans to ramp up drilling at Yuganskneftegaz, a subsidiary of defunct Yukos which Rosneft now owns.

 

Sechin also told Putin that Rosneft increased hydrocarbon production by 1 percent to 254 million tonnes of oil equivalent last year.

 

Rosneft did not provide a breakdown of its oil and natural gas production for the last year.

 

($1 = 68.3950 roubles)

(Reporting by Katya Golubkova and Vladimir Soldatkin; editing by Polina Devitt and Jason Neely)